Fences 3.12 Beta Issue Report Thread

from Stardock Forums

With the Fences 3.12 beta release today, we are creating this thread so that users can report any observed issues.  

Obtaining the beta:

Object Desktop members can get the beta from within Object Desktop Manager with 'show beta downloads' enabled:

Individual purchases (as well as Object Desktop Members) can also be obtained from your account page:

https://store.stardock.com/myaccount/products

Reporting an issue:

Please include the following for anything found:

  • Exact Windows version \ build (winver.exe)
  • Detailed steps to recreate the issue seen
  • Screenshots and videos are very helpful.  Videos can be uploaded to a cloud drive services (GoogleDrive, DropBox, OneDrive, YouTube) and link included in your post.  Images can be directly added.
  • If there are specific apps that Groupy does not work (well) with, please note what apps and their exact versions.  If any app is not common, a link to a trial version would be appreciated.

Thank you for your interest and any time you put into making Fences a better product.

fences support
143,344 views 63 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Fences 3.12 Changelog

Fences 3.12 is a culmination of its own changes and 3.10

3.12
  • Fixes for WPE compatibility
  • Fixes Windows Explorer crashes from crazy long (URL) shortcuts paths
  • Fixes issues where Steam users could be prompted for a Stardock key under certain conditions
3.10 (was yanked because of Windows Explorer crashes and it WPE compatibility)
 
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

***Reserved***

 

08/11/2021

With the release of 3.13, we are closing this thread.

Thanks to everyone who provided feedback.

 

 

Let’s try this again…

As many of you are aware, Stardock released Fences 3.10 on Steam and Stardock.com late last week (July 22nd), and as you may have noticed, it did not go well. Actually - to say it did not go well would be like retelling the Vesuvius eruption as just another cloudy day in Pompeii...

What happened
We had been working on Fences 3.10 for some time – it was up in beta for several months. It contained a bunch of stuff we were excited to release. However, we missed a couple of things to but it mildly...

-Windows Explorer Crashing
While we were aware of some (rare-ish) Windows Explorer crashes, we believed it was related to customers that had higher than normal security measures as seen here:

https://forums.stardock.com/502301

Turns out, it could also be caused by VERY long URL shortcuts:
https://forums.stardock.com/504691/get;3812652

MUCH thanks to eniom for finding this and providing feedback.

-Wallpaper Engine compatibility
We’d gotten some reports of an issue with Wallpaper Engine and started to take a look, but from our knowledge, the overlap of users with Wallpaper Engine + Fences was quite low so we were OK moving forward with the update while we looked into it.  With that, and since the beta on our website had gone well, we decided to go ahead and get the update out on Steam at the same time we released at Stardock without doing an opt-in beta on Steam first. This combination did not turn out well.

In retrospect, Steam would be exactly the place where there would be folks experiencing Wallpaper Engine / Fences overlap and we should have never released on Steam \ Stardock at all while we were still figuring out a solution.

We discovered that WPE issues had actually been introduced into the last version put onto Steam in 2020, but most people didn’t have this version. It was a small update, so we hadn’t pushed it out to existing users (anyone who installed 2017-mid2020). So we had spent our time looking at where in all the recent changes something might have gone wrong. Forum members quickly pointed out that 3.0.9.11 worked whereas 3.0.9.23 did not, which led us right to the answer.

More discussion can be found here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/607380/discussions/0/3055114073639412141/

Within a day, we decided to forgo scrambling to attempt a fix and yanked 3.10 – replacing it with 3.09.11.

What we’re doing
We must start with an apology. We are sorry that certain miscalculations and decisions caused frustration for our customers and support issues for the Wallpaper Engine team (thank you for your help, Tim from WPE). We're also very thankful for the help the Stardock \ Steam population provided – directly contributing to the eventual solutions.

With that, Fences 3.12 is now available at Stardock as a beta and on Steam as an opt-in. Once we’re confident the issue is resolved, we’ll be releasing it to all.

In the meantime, cheers, and enjoy your Fences!

- Stardock Software 

WindowBlinds - Free yourself of the default settings, customize your desktop.
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
***Reserved***
 
Fences 3.12 Update instructions:
 
Stardock purchases
See the instructions on the initial post.
 
Steam Fences 3.12 Opt-in instructions
In the Steam client, please uninstall Fences and reboot.

After
  • Right-click Fences in your library and select 'Properties'
  • Betas
  • Then select: 'opt-in - 3.12 Test Build'


Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Hi,

what's the procedure to install Beta 3.12 when having the latest (faulty) Version 3.10 running?

I cant't find any instruction.

Best regards

Werner

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

Thank you so much for this Stardock and again my sincere apology for that one hostile post I made here on the forum. 3.12 works great with WPE! :D

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

First of all, thank you for all the work to put out a new beta.

With 3.12, I'm still having an issue that files saved to desktop all go to my secondary monitor. ( I have two in total )

It started since 3.10 beta and didn't happen for me before that version. My Windows version is 21H1, 19043.1110

Other than that, the new beta works like a charm.

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting jhy4321, reply 7

First of all, thank you for all the work to put out a new beta.

With 3.12, I'm still having an issue that files saved to desktop all go to my secondary monitor. ( I have two in total )

It started since 3.10 beta and didn't happen for me before that version. My Windows version is 21H1, 19043.1110

Other than that, the new beta works like a charm.
End of jhy4321's quote

Hello,

Would you do this PURGE:  https://forums.stardock.com/486084/fences-support-faq#reinstalling

Reboot and ReInstall the latest version 3.12 from your account https://store.stardock.com/myaccount/products/

Reboot , test and report back please .

 

AzDude
Stardock Community Assistant

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting jhy4321, reply 7

With 3.12, I'm still having an issue that files saved to desktop all go to my secondary monitor. ( I have two in total )
End of jhy4321's quote

I believe I have asked this of you before in another thread but we need to know that you are sorting the main desktop by something and if that resolves the issue:

If you are not sorting, please try that.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

 

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

I'm still getting this message:

+1 Loading…
Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top

Have you done reply #9 as Sean asked ?

Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,

Sorry to hear you are having trouble.

Quoting jhy4321, reply 13

Yes I was just trying different sorting methods, and it didn't help.
End of jhy4321's quote

First, you need to know what your 'Main' monitor is in Windows:

Next, you need to ensure that matches Fences:

Watching that work with 'Auto arrange icons' enabled:

https://cdn.stardock.us/support/uploads/2021-07-29_15-22-40.mp4

That is Windows 11 preview but you get the idea.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting sdRohan, reply 14

First, you need to know what your 'Main' monitor is in Windows:
Next, you need to ensure that matches Fences:

Watching that work with 'Auto arrange icons' enabled:

https://cdn.stardock.us/support/uploads/2021-07-29_15-22-40.mp4

That is Windows 11 preview but you get the idea.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager
End of sdRohan's quote

Yes I've checked all of them, but the issue still exits.

Reply #17 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting mhguda, reply 10





I'm still getting this message:


End of mhguda's quote

Me too - I still can't uninstall 3.0.9.11, probably due to corruption of the uninstall folder/files. I posted full screenshots in the main thread re 3.10 Issue Reports. Purging doesn't work, as some of the cmd lines produce errors.

HELP!

Reply #18 from Stardock Forums Top

@johnedwards1, thanks for that timely heads up. I do not trust that advice from them so will for the time being just continue using 3.09.

Reply #19 from Stardock Forums Top

Hi there ! I started having troubles with WPE when I updated to 3.10 last week, and discovered today 3.12 should fix the issue so I installed it but it seems it didn't fix the issue on my end

Reply #20 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Emptymess, reply 19

Hi there ! I started having troubles with WPE when I updated to 3.10 last week, and discovered today 3.12 should fix the issue so I installed it but it seems it didn't fix the issue on my end
End of Emptymess's quote

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. Please try purge and reinstall steps as mentioned here: https://forums.stardock.com/486084/fences-support-faq#reinstalling. Just make sure to re-download V3.12 Beta again from your account. Reboot after the purged. Reinstall, and Reboot again after the installation. Retest it. Report back here.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Reply #21 from Stardock Forums Top

Perfect!

The new Beta-Version seem to work without any changes in my OS.

Fences_3.12-j78-Setup_sd

Keep up the good work!

Reply #22 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting jhy4321, reply 16

Yes I've checked all of them, but the issue still exits.
End of jhy4321's quote

Can you post a video of your desktop, showing  that this is checked:

And the issue still happening?

Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager

Reply #23 from Stardock Forums Top

I just installed 3.12  and it has cleared the issue with Internet Explorer that I had before.

Reply #24 from Stardock Forums Top

I installed Fences 3.12 yesterday -- nonstop crashes; I had to revert.  Im runing windows 10, latest patch up version, nvidia video drivers.

Reply #25 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting johnbergman, reply 24

I installed Fences 3.12 yesterday -- nonstop crashes; I had to revert.  Im runing windows 10, latest patch up version, nvidia video drivers.
End of johnbergman's quote

Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having issues. Need to know more on your system and crash.

  1. Windows version, please use Winver.exe for full Windows version numbers.
  2. Have you tried the purge and reinstall steps as mention here https://forums.stardock.com/486084/fences-support-faq#reinstalling.  Just make sure to re-download the V3.12 Beta from your account again. Reboot after the purged. Reinstall, and Reboot again after the installation. Retest it. Report back here.
  3. If it still crash, we might need to look at your crashes : Please use this guide for crash reporting : https://forums.stardock.com/486084/fences-support-faq#ExtendedCrashReporting.

We really appreciate your feedback and patience.

Thank

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.